Behind-the-Scenes Look at the iPhone App Development Process

Unless you been living under a rock for the better part of the 21st century, you probably already understand the widespread adoption of apps in our society. Apps can do almost anything, from ordering food online to saving money, if there is a need, there is likely an app to fill that need. You may have even considered differentmobile business ideas that you have considered for your own Android or iPhone app development, but never took the steps to actually get it made.

For those who have always had an idea but didn’t know where to start, this article is for you. Today we are going to demystify the iPhone app development process and look behind the scenes of what it takes to turn an app from an idea into a reality. Not only that, but with our experience and expertise we will make sure that you are able to hammer downmobile app design the right way the first time around. Let’s take a look behind the curtain.

First steps

Before you ever begin designing or developing your app, there are a few things you need to have a firm grasp of. There are certain questions you need to ask yourself to make sure that you are ready to jump into development, including:

Do you have a good understand of your target market? Before you begin, you need to already be thinking about your end user. Is there a spot in the marketplace for your app? This should be the first question you ask yourself and you should spend time on your answer, as it will be asked of you again and again.

What user stories will you base your decisions off of? Every app is built around user stories and the features of your will directly correlate with what these users need. Make sure that your user stories are well articulated and thought out before attempting to build a solution.

Do you have a visual architecture in mind? You’ll need to either hand-draw or Photoshop wireframes that you can base the architecture of your app around. Having these done early will lead to a better overall design in the end.

What’s your budget? Do you have money set aside for this project? Will it be enough? The answer to this will depend upon your unique situation, but it is always worth reviewing before committing to an iPhone app development.

Only once you have solid answers to each of these questions should you begin to explore options. Leading us to our next step: deciding on a process.

Deciding on a process

Now that you have direction and a goal in mind, the next step in iPhone app development is picking a process to get you where you need to go. For instance, are you planning tooutsource app development or create the app yourself? Unless you have previous experience with coding an app, we recommend working with a team.

Then, once you have your team, you’ll need to figure out your place in the process. Most app development companies work within the framework of anAgile development process, geared towards maximized efficiency and end results.

Should your team work with something like Scrum or Kanban, you will likely serve as a gatherer of user stories and act as the ambassador for your end users. This is why it is important to understand your users before jumping in, since it will be your job to make sure that there needs are met. Once you have a process, team, and goals in place, now you can begin the actual the design and development stage.

Design stage

The design stage is where those wireframes you created earlier will come into place. While those initial mock-ups were simply to lay out the way to app will look, the design stage is where you can finalize visuals like logos, colors, fonts, etc.

Your team will then create high-res files (often .psd) so that you can try out the look and feel of the app. This is also where you should start to add in elements ofUI and UX design to ensure that your end users get the best experience they can.

Development stage

Following the design stage is the development stage. Although your involvement is important at every stage of your iPhone app development, it is vital that you have regular communication with your team throughout the development stage. The reason for this is that mistakes made here can be very costly.

As you begin to wrap up the development stage of the process and start planning for beta-testing and then launch, it is worth reviewingApple’s guidelines for publishing an app in the store. They are notoriously stringent so it is worth double-checking that your app meets each of these standards.

Testing

Once your app has been fully developed, it is now time to test your app against different conditions and environments to find bugs and make fixes before giving it to the world. If you are working with an outside team, make sure that testing is included with your development as this is a very important stage.

The testing stage can take longer than you might initially expect, but we implore you to not take this lightly. The first impression that you make with your app can make or break all of the work you have put into your app. For this reason, eradicating any and all bugs and making sure your app’s user experience is up to snuff is incredibly important.

Finishing up

Although the end of your iPhone app development has come, this is truly only the beginning. However, make sure that you celebrate this moment, because now is when the real work begins.

Before you launch your app, Apple will need to review everything and they may ask you to make some changes. Then, once your app has been launched, you need to always be improving your work and collecting data from your users on ways to continue improving your apps functionality.

This is actually the best part of the process, because you get to see how real users are using your app. While this stage will obviously have its own trials and difficulties, you can find solace in knowing that the hard part is over and the best is yet to come.